Syria presses heavy air bombardment of rebels BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian warplanes fired missiles at opposition strongholds around Damascus and in the north on Wednesday as Turkey, a key backer of the anti-regime rebels, appeared to distance itself from an earlier call to impose a no-fly zone. The Syrian regime has intensified airstrikes in recent days following the failure of a U.N.-backed holiday truce over a four-day holiday that never took hold. Activists said at least 110 people were kille...

Greece outlines new austerity as debt load rises ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s government on Wednesday outlined the new austerity measures it intends to take over the next two years, a series of painful spending cuts and tax hikes that its international bailout creditors are demanding in exchange for rescue loans. The country’s finance minister also submitted a revised draft budget for 2013, with figures predicting the debt load will increase sharply as the recession deepens into a sixth st...

Mammograms: For 1 life saved, 3 women overtreated LONDON (AP) — Breast cancer screening for women over 50 saves lives, an independent panel in Britain has concluded, confirming findings in U.S. and other studies. But that screening comes with a cost: The review found that for every life saved, roughly three other women were overdiagnosed, meaning they were unnecessarily treated for a cancer that would never have threatened their lives. The expert panel was commissioned by Cancer Research U.K....

Syria activists report 23 dead in Damascus suburb BEIRUT (AP) — Airstrikes by Syrian jets and shells from tanks leveled a neighborhood in a restive city near the capital of Damascus on Tuesday, killing 18 people, and at least five rebel fighters died nearby in clashes with regime troops, activists said. The airstrikes on the city of Douma, northeast of the capital, left residents scampering over a huge expanse of rubble and using their hands to dig up mangled bodies, according to activist vid...

Protesters delay vote on new Libyan Cabinet TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya’s new prime minister on Tuesday put forward a Cabinet for parliamentary approval, but protesters stormed the building during the session, forcing a postponement of the vote on the new government. Around 100 protesters, a mix of bearded civilians and self-proclaimed rebels, broke into the hall during a session in which Ali Zidan, the new prime minister, was telling the National General Congress that he tried to strik...

Facebook used to kidnap, traffic Indonesian girls DEPOK, Indonesia (AP) — When a 14-year-old girl received a Facebook friend request from an older man she didn’t know, she accepted it out of curiosity. It’s a click she will forever regret, leading to a brutal story that has repeated itself as sexual predators find new ways to exploit Indonesia’s growing obsession with social media. The junior high student was quickly smitten by the man’s smooth online flattery. They exchanged phone numbers, a...

Spooked cow tramples Palestinian at Muslim feast GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A spooked cow killed a Palestinian man who was trying to slaughter the beast on Saturday during the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha, a Gaza health official said. Muslims around the world slaughter sheep, cows and goats, during the four-day holiday that began Friday, giving away much of the meat to the poor. The Muslim holiday commemorates the sacrifice by the Prophet Ibrahim, known to Christians and Jews as Abrah...

Bombings, clashes leave Syria truce in tatters BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian warplane flattened a three-story building, suspected rebels detonated a deadly car bomb and both sides traded gunfire in several hotspots across the country Saturday, activists said, leaving a U.N.-backed holiday truce in tatters on its second day. The unraveling of the cease-fire marked the latest setback to ending Syria’s civil war through diplomacy. Foreign military intervention is unlikely, raising the grim prospect ...

Iraq bombings, house raids leave 40 dead BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi insurgents unleashed a string of bombings and other attacks primarily targeting the country’s Shiite community on Saturday, leaving at least 40 dead in a challenge to government efforts to promote a sense of stability by preventing attacks during a major Muslim holiday. The bloodshed appeared to be the worst in Iraq since Sept. 9, when insurgents launched a wave of bombings and other attacks that left at least 92 dead in o...

Sandy gone, Caribbean mourns 58 dead, cleans up PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Caribbean death toll from Hurricane Sandy rose again sharply on Saturday, even as the storm swirled away toward the U.S. East Coast. Officials said the hurricane system has cost at least 58 lives in addition to destroying or badly damaging thousands of homes. While Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas took direct hits from the storm, the majority of deaths and most extensive damage was in impoverished Haiti, where it ...

New Afghan war phase, with no decisive end seen KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A new chapter of the Afghanistan war is opening with a slimmed-down Western force doing more advising than fighting, a resilient Taliban showing little interest in peace talks, and Americans tempted to pull the plug on a conflict now in its 12th year. A decisive end seems nowhere in sight. The allied offensive that just ended, spearheaded by an influx of 30,000 U.S. troops, hammered the Taliban in its southern strongh...

Sandy leaves Bahamas after killing 43 in Caribbean NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Hurricane Sandy spun away from the Bahamas late Friday after causing 43 deaths across the Caribbean, churning northward toward the U.S. East Coast, where it threatens to join with winter weather fronts to create a super storm. The Category 1 hurricane toppled light posts, flooded roads and tore off tree branches as it spun through Cat Island and Eleuthera in the scattered Bahamas archipelago, with authorities reporting o...

Syrian toddler believed dead reunited with parents NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — No one knows how long little Bushr Al Tawashi wandered alone in the rubble of his home in the Syrian capital before rebel fighters found the toddler and handed him over to another family to look after. Now, the 2-year-old is back with his parents — who believed he had been killed. In their chaotic haste to escape fighting between government troops and Syrian rebels, Bushr’s parents had assumed the boy was picked up by ot...

Suicide attack kills 41 at Afghan mosque KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a mosque packed with senior regional officials in northern Afghanistan on a major Muslim holiday Friday, killing 41 people. The officials escaped unhurt, and many of the dead were soldiers and police. The attack was the latest in a series of deadly strikes in recent weeks against Afghan army, police and government officials. The choice of targets suggests that the insurgen...

Silvio Berlusconi convicted in Italy of tax fraud MILAN (AP) — Just two days after announcing he won’t run in spring elections, former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years in prison Friday in a verdict that could see him barred from public office for five years. Berlusconi, after dominating Italian politics for nearly two decades, has seen his power weakening in the last year as a sex scandal tarnished his image and he was forced to resign a...

Sandy pounds Bahamas after killing 21 in Caribbean NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Hurricane Sandy raged through the Bahamas early Friday after leaving 21 people dead across the Caribbean, following a path that could see it blend with a winter storm and reach the U.S. East Coast as a super-storm next week. Sandy knocked out power, flooded roads and cut off islands in the storm-hardened Bahamas as it swirled past Cat Island and Eleuthera, but authorities reported no deaths in the scattered archipelago. ...

56 dead in renewed ethnic violence in west Myanmar KYAUKTAW, Myanmar (AP) — At least 56 people have been killed and 1,900 homes destroyed in renewed ethnic violence in western Myanmar as the government warned perpetrators and the international community appealed for calm. About 75,000 people remain in refugee camps since an outbreak of violence in June between the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities in which at least 90 people were killed and more than 3,000 homes were destroyed. ...

Syria commits to 4-day truce, but prospects dim BEIRUT (AP) — The embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad promised Thursday to observe a U.N.-proposed truce during a four-day Muslim holiday, while rebels claimed major gains in the key battleground of Aleppo. But prospects of the cease-fire taking hold are dim, given Assad’s history of broken promises and the rebel momentum in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, where fighters said they advanced into several regime-held neighborhoods. Th...

Israeli PM’s party to ally with ultranationalists JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister announced Thursday that he was joining forces with his hard-line foreign minister in upcoming elections, instantly creating a hawkish new bloc that now appears poised to lead the country. The deal between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu makes the new ticket the clear front-runner in the January elections, giving the ultranationalist foreign ministe...

Hurricane Sandy pounds Jamaica, then aims at Cuba KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hurricane Sandy lashed precarious shantytowns, stranded travelers and downed power lines with heavy wind and rain Wednesday as it roared across Jamaica and then headed for an overnight landfall in eastern Cuba and go on to threaten the Bahamas and possibly Florida. Sandy's death toll was at least two. An elderly man was killed in Jamaica when he was crushed by a boulder that rolled onto his clapboard house, police repo...